A bright flash illuminated a third of the sky originating from a point like a star.

All I can remember is that my cousin and I were looking up at the sky at approximately 10:30.We were noting the constellations, when all of a sudden a bright flash illuminated about a third of the sky. The flash originated from a small point , but appeared to "grow" from it. We became very terrified and ran home. I will always remember it because it happened the same evening as the 7.1 Loma Preita earthqauke.